so many books....so little time

I succumb to the lure of the new book so often that I think I should open a library in my house! This has been a life-long weakness, and even in my most penurious moments my inner compass has passed up other extravagances for a really good read! All of this excuse-making is only to explain why I've ended up recently with two books that really shouldn't be on the same bookshelf:



I've had The Crochet Stitch Bible for some time. Its an invaluable resource; well laid out, a logical progression, and that fabulous covered spiral binding that allows the book to lay flat and yet doesn't catch on yarns.

I recently bought the newer book, Super Stitches Crochet. My money could have been better spent. The stitches, while they appear to be in a sort of order are hard to find when you're looking for something specific; familiar names of common stitches have been changed; and the binding is annoyingly tight so that the book does not open completely and if you try to open it wide enough to hold down with one hand, the binding breaks...

You can guess which one I prefer! I had expected - an unrealistic expectation it seems - that a new stitch book coming out so soon after the first, would show different and perhaps unusual or obscure stitches. Wouldn't a publishing company do its research and say "gee, a crochet stitch dictionary came out not too long ago. What can we do differently for the crochet market?" No, not so.....

This is the Crochet Stitch Bible:



Lovely stitch, yes? Somewhat unusual and unique.... very vintage-looking.

And here is the new book, Super Stitches:



It's the Exact. Same. Stitch. Even the diagram is an exact match. Only the colour has been changed. And the green sample hasn't been blocked.

Oh, I would expect some overlap of stitches - the commonly used ones, the most fundamental stitches needed for crochet. But all the decorative and unusual ones???

Still, in spite of more overlap of contents than is really desirable, there are some differences. And given my book-obsessed nature, I won't be returning Super Stitches. If it has even one unique stitch, I can convince myself that I need it!